Quote:
Originally Posted by ApK
I'm very confused.
The cite said this is "mostly symbolic." In what way ISN'T this only symbolic?
Is there ANY practical effect of this?
Is it merely a sign post to mark where history may see mp3 start to be treated as a "legacy format" or is there something I'm not getting?
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The whole thing reads to me as "Fraunhofer instigates fearmongering when faced with losing a source of revenue". I don't really see any practical effect at all. Many people who want lossless are already using lossless. We've seen growth in portable music devices designed for those who want the best in lossless / hi-def audio playback (and the ones I've looked at also support MP3 in addition to lossless formats). I do think we'll see an impressive new generation of lossless devices and other implementation but that was happening anyway.
We may also see more download music offerings coming in higher quality flavors, but again, that market segment was already growing due to demand so I don't know that this will do anything but possibly speed it up by an unknown amount. (That takes time, effort and money on behalf of the vendors so it won't be overnight, especially since the number of customers who would be willing to pay more for those formats is limited.)
There are those who care about codecs for quality reasons, those who care for compatibility reasons, and those who don't think about it at all. I don't see the proportions changing much in those groups. MP3, especially now that it will be free of licensing costs to implement, is still going to be available, just like all the freaky a/v codecs and wrappers that are still floating around to be used as desired.